Ross Sheil, Staff Reporter 
Ruth Potopsingh, group managing director of the Petroleum Corporation of Jamaica.
FROM BUSINESSES to households, Jamaicans are already taking advantages of the potential offered by renewable (naturally replaceable) energy sources and energy-saving technologies.
These range from the very biggest projects such as the Alcoa bauxite refinery in Manchester, which sells co-generated electricity to the national grid, to households who will benefit from the islandwide distribution of four million compact fluorescent lights to replace their old inefficient incandescent light bulbs.
To meet its target of 10 per cent of Jamaica's electricity generated from renewable sources by 2010 (up from a current figure of six per cent), and 20 per cent by 2020, government hopes a new national energy policy and the passage of recent legislation will encourage adoption of energy- saving technologies.
Seeing itself as a torch-bearer within the Caribbean, Jamaica has persuaded Venezuela to provide a grant under the PetroCaribe agreement to launch a regional centre of excellence for renewable energy here in Jamaica.
TECHNOLOGY WIDELY AVAILABLE
As price falls and performance rises, the technology is becoming more widely available. "You can use more energy-efficient technology to achieve your goals of saving money. You don't have to turn off your lights and sit in darkness when you can just turn off your incandescent bulb and screw in a fluorescent," reasoned Ruth Potopsingh, group managing director of the Petroleum Corporation of Jamaica (PCJ).
Kingston-based Sweet Craft which manufactures plastic bottles merely adjusted their production schedule to save. "In a nutshell, the Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS) allows time-of-use billing where if you shut down between the peak hours of six and 10 p.m., you can realise significant savings," said Jodie Sommerbell, managing director of Sweet Craft.
The trade-off has been convenient, said Ms. Sommerbell. With the four-hour period being used for maintenance and above all a monthly reduction of between $300,000 and $500,000 in the company's light bill.
Noel Arscott of Nasa Farms in Rhymesbury, Clarendon, generates his own electricity from the manure of his 100 cattle. The manure is converted into biogas and is fed to a generator which also takes diesel.
BIODIGESTER
Mr. Arscott was helped to design the biodigester by the Scientific Research Council (SRC) which uses similar technology to generate biogas at its Hope Garden, St. Andrew headquarters.
"I was searching for a way to deal with the waste that was going into the drain and I knew about biogas from reading about it on the Internet and so I contacted the SRC who sent their technical people," said Mr. Arscott.
The system provides 30 per cent of his electricity needs, and he estimates will refund its initial costs within seven years. "But," he added, "One of the difficulties is that up to now I have had no financial assistance to start this up, suffice to say its been pretty hard to make it on your own."
INCENTIVES FOR RENEWABLE ENERGY AND ENERGY EFFICIENCY: The Office of Utility Regulations has authorised the selling of electricity to the national grid, with sellers receiving 15 per cent more on their prices, if their electricity was produced from renewable sources.
The government's Energy Fund, which aims to raise US$25 million over the next five years, will provide loans towards renewable energy and
energy-saving initiatives.
A list of 29 energy-saving and renewable energy products have been made GCT and import duty exempt.
The National Housing Trust offers loans for the purchase of solar water heaters.
This three-part series ends next week with 'Jamaica and the world, is our future renewable?'
